The following was provided to all managers by email - 24 April 2014, 18:05. This ruling still stands but until now has not been added to the rules and regulations section.

....The following rule is now in place and clarified. Once a legal bid is placed, it remains in place until the bidding timeframe expires, or a valid counter-bid is placed on that same player during the bidding period.

A team cannot withdraw a bid on a player, unless they have been made aware that the bid is illegal (Illegal is defined as the bid is less than the minimum due to NRL games or rep status, the bid would exceed their salary cap or the player is already signed or not listed on the official spreadsheet). In those cases only, can a bid be noted as withdrawn (as soon as it is known - and by any manager). As Dave says, it is up to each manager to ensure you each have the requisite players per club.

You may also amend your bid at any time, by selecting another player to trade out. So for instance –.....if [a team changes] their bid by choosing another player to trade out, the bid itself would remain valid.....– so long as the bidding amount is not lower than that team’s initial bid.

1. Limited number of tradesEach franchise will be able to recruit a maximum of 50 players throughout the season. This includes the initial recruitment phase. So if you only recruit 20 players in the initial stage, you’ll be able to bring in a maximum of 30 players during the remainder of the season.

In most cases this will represent 25 players recruited in the initial stage, and then 25 possible throughout the season.

2. Two trades per week allowedEach team will be allowed to make up to two trades per week. These trades must not be ‘active’ at the same time. i.e. you can make a second trade/bid, only on condition you do not have another bid active at that point. This applies even if you were not the original bidder – i.e. you cannot start bidding on one player, and then outbid someone else’s bid whilst your original bid remains active.

The exception to this is inter-team trading where you can trade two players out for two in. This may be undertaken in one concurrent trade (though it still counts as two trades for that week and overall)

3. The Bidding decision timeframe is now 24 hoursDecision time for all bids will be exactly 24 hours after the initial bid was made (with the exception of bidding window times listed below). Bidding decision time may be extended as described in the General Rules section. This remains unchanged from previous years.

4. Bidding Windows You may now place a bid at any time from Midday Saturday through to 10pm Thursday. • Bids placed between Midday Saturday and 7pm Sunday will all decided at 7pm Monday evening• Bids placed between 2pm and 10 pm Thursday will all be decided at 2pm Friday• All other bids will be decided 24 hours after the initial bid was made

5. Teams for Thursday night gamesGiven the number of Thursday night games this season, for a player to be included in your team for that week the bidding for him must have been finalised before you submit your team to Dave and your opponent. If the player is still in the middle of a bidding war at kick-off time (or when you submit your final team) he should not be included, (even if you subsequently win the bidding war after kick-off). Players named in this way will score zero points for that week.

If you need to name your team before kick-off and before the resolution of a bid you have an interest in, then you may name the player plus an alternative lineup if your bid is unsuccessful. for example “I name Mitch Pearce at #7 if my trade is approved, if not, move Kane Elgey from the bench to half back and bring Todd Carney onto the bench”.

You may of course amend you side as usual at any time before kickoff.

6. Trading weeks

Weeks 1 - 4You can only recruit after game weeks 2 and 3 if you have empty spots in your roster. This complies with the rule where, you have to have a player in your squad for 4 weeks before releasing them, meaning trading before game week 4 is not allowed unless you do have a vacant spot.

End of Season Trading is now allowed right up to Grand Final week (only if you have enough trades left, and you comply with all other recruitment rules). This better represents real life where a club can bring someone in as cover at any time.

7. Player Minimum valuesMinimum player values follows:• $250k minimum. For a goal kicker (No change)• $50k minimum. For a rookie who has played less than 5 NRL games. (No change)• $100k minimum. For a player who has played 5 or more NRL games. (No change)• $200k minimum. For a rep player – now defined as at least one game played in State of Origin or National sides for Australia, New Zealand and England only

General RulesYou can only bid for players on the spreadsheet, and their positions as listed in the GC players file. Positions are based on positions as named in the Handbook, or if not listed, the committee will review the game and give a position that player played during the matches they played prior to being added to the list. No arguments will be entered into in this regard, the committee of 2-3 managers will ensure any bias is removed.To make a trade/bid for a player you must use the forum, or get a proxy to do so for you. This enables everyone due access to counterbids. To make a trade, go to the Trading section of the forum and click ‘New Topic’.In the title you should type ‘Team name, trade – Player name’ e.g. ‘Showers trade – Mitch Pearce’.In the body of the email, state the player you are recruiting (if need be state his club if there are duplicates names’ and the amount you want to bid for him. Also name the player you are dropping from your own squad Do your homework before making a bid. If you bid $65,000 for a player who should have a $100K minimum bid, then the bid will just be declined by the committee. If you bid $65,000, and it is not enough, another manager may advise you that it is insufficient and you can revise your bid on that player but it must of course be within the 24 hour timeframe of that particular bid.

• A player has to be in your squad for 4 weeks before you can trade them. That means at least four full or split NRL rounds must be played before a player can be traded out.

Trading is now allowed from anytime Midday Saturday through to 10pm Thursday, and you may place a bid at any time during this period – and use it to your advantage to ensure you will be around for when the bidding period closes. • Bids placed between Midday Saturday and 7pm Sunday will all decided at 7pm Monday evening• Bids placed between 2pm and 10 pm Thursday will all be decided at 2pm Friday• All other bids will be decided 24 hours after the initial bid was made

No new bids or trades can be started after 10pm Thursday. You may however choose to place a counterbid on someone else’s trade.

if the player you bid for receives a higher offer, you can either:• Make a higher bid;• Bid for another player, either a new bid, or on someone with an existing active trade; or • Do nothing and allow the player to be picked up by another team.

The highest bid for a player has to be the highest bid for 30 minutes. What this means is that if - for example - if there is an open bid for Tim Nutasch, and I bid for him for $101,000 at 1.55pm Friday, if someone then bids $110,000 at 2.20pm, I (or any other coach) has until 2.50pm to make a higher bid. No fastest finger in this comp, you can't just put a bid on at 5.29pm and 58 seconds to get someone, as we have 30 minutes from your bid to decide, so make sure you put the amount you think they are worth to you.

All trades will be approved by the Committee (Pooh-Bah) who will endeavor to reply to trades as soon as able. If in any doubt about the validity of a trade when naming your team, please ensure you provide a fallback position in your team naming. i.e. “I name Mitch Pearce as Halfback if my trade is approved, if not, move Kane Elgey from the bench to half back and bring Todd Carney into the bench”.

Given that the bidding period is now only 24 hours and you are able to make more than one non-concurrent trade each week, you may often be in a situation where you have completed one trade and wish to immediately make another trade. Pooh-Bah is not online all the time so will not be able to immediately approve trades. In these situations managers are allowed to place another bid immediately after they think the first has been successful or the time period has expired.

If it turns out that the initial trade was rejected for whatever reason (e.g. salary cap, rep status etc.) then the second bid remains active and is deemed to have started at the time this 2nd bid was placed.

In the unusual situation where you have placed a bid on Player A, and you are then outbid on him by a second team, if you then go and place a bid on another player B. If for whatever reason, the second teams bid on your original bid on player A is deemed invalid, meaning you are still the leading bidder for player A – and still have an existing and valid bid on player B, then both these bids, whilst concurrent, will be allowed….but the manager will have an opportunity to withdraw either bid as soon as possible.

If keeping both bids active would breach the salary cap, or other rules, then the manager will need to make a call on which to withdraw. If the manager cannot be contacted prior to the bidding finalisation date, the committee will invalidate whichever bid would be invalid, or the second bid if both would do so equally.

In this case and all other cases of dispute, resolution will be undertaken by the Trading Committee, and sometimes with input from the managers themselves or other independent managers. We’ll try and get it right, but understand in some cases, arbitration between managers may be necessary.

It is up to each manager to ensure they do not breach the one player per club rules by kickoff of the 1st game of the round. You may temporarily be in breach after your first trade, but your second trade must legitimise your team by kickoff of the 1st game of the round.

If the salary cap is breached during an individual trade process, the trade that exceeds the salary cap will not be approved. This will include any team to team trades. Any players named that week will score zero points with no replacements allowed if the team naming deadline has passed.

Trading between teams will benefit from two trades a week, as carefully planned trades will allow some beneficial team management - but it will need to be carefully managed by both teams. You can now trade two players with another manager at the same time. This is allowed even though it’s actually a concurrent trade only because it streamlines the process and will avoid any allegations of ‘Joe promised to trade me Mitch Pearce for Mitch Cornish in our second trade and he’s backed out of the promise”.

All salary cap and other rules will need to be adhered to in these trades, and if declined the entire trade is declined – i.e. both players, not just one have to go back to their original teams.

If two players are traded in this manner, it counts as two trades for that week and two trades against the overall trading limit for the season)

Trading between teams is not allowed after round 18. To complete this trade, players are swapped at the dollar value the original coach paid for them. One coach lists the trade in the forum with the second coach acknowledging the trade. (Perceived shenanigans between coaches will be dealt with accordingly by the committee)

Any player who remains in the process of trading negotiations at the time of the deadline for naming that round's team (often Thursday nights now in 2016) - should not be included in your team to play, even if you subsequently win the bidding war after kick-off. Players named in this way will score zero points for that week.

This also applies, for the inverse situation. If you name a player in your team that week (say at 7pm Thursday) and then wish to bid on a player later that night, or place a counter bid on someone before 2pm Friday, you may not, as part of that trade, offer to release any players you have named to play that round. Such a bid will be invalid.

Therefore it is up to the manager to decide if they drop out of a bidding war to allow their player to play that weekend.

A player that has been traded OUT of 2 teams becomes ineligible for trading for the remainder of the season (i.e. no player can play for a third team in one GC season). After they are dropped from a second team, they are ruled out of the GC season.

You may opt to not recruit anyone but still drop a player at any time (so long as they have been in your team for four weeks). This does however count towards your maximum two trades a week but does NOT count towards your overall number of trades for the season. The overall number of trades is only on bringing players IN. This happens only rarely and usually only when trying to balance teams for subsequent inter-team trades.

The final trading week is the week leading up to the Grand Final. That only applies to acquiring players from the pool.

You can bid for a player you have previously released, however your offer must be no less than the value you previously had that player for. This still only counts as 1 team for that player towards their 2 team maximum.

Entry fee - $20 per team, No trading is permitted until you have paid your dues

Do your homework before making a bid, and you will be fine. If you bid $65,000 for a player who should have a $100K minimum bid, then the bid will just be declined, and you will have to wait. If you bid $65,000, and it is not enough, you will often hear from someone that that is the case, and you CAN REVISE YOUR BID ON THAT PLAYER (same as if you make a higher bid if you are outbid), but obviously within the timeframes of the trade window.

• A player has to be in your squad for 4 weeks before you can trade them.

The trading period begins midday Monday and closes 2pm Friday, subject to any bidding wars in progress. (see explanation below). There are 2 separate periods which determine the length of time the bids are active for – refer examples below

Examples

Bids placed between Midday Monday and 2pm Wednesday remain active for a 48 hour period from the initial post (example - a bid placed at 1pm Monday decides at 1pm Wednesday, or 10am Wednesday decides at 10am Friday, unless a further bid within 30 minutes of the decision time has been submitted)

Bids placed after 2pm Wednesday and before Thursday 10pm all decide at 2pm on Friday (examples – a bid placed at 4pm Wednesday is active for 46 hours and decides at 2pm Friday and a bid placed at 7pm Thursday decides at 2pm Friday

(Note) This includes weeks where the first match is Thursday night – so in those instances you might not want to wait until Thursday night if you want to use that player that week. Your bid will still be processed for that week, but unable to play.

No negotiations can be initiated with any player after 10pm Thursday unless there is already a bid placed for this player prior to the Thursday 10pm deadline

*.When placing a bid, put a post in the Trades section of the forum entitled, for e.g. – “Sinking Rats Trade – Tim Nutasch” . Please include the player's name in all bidding posts on the forum and if you wish to place a counter bid for that player, please do so in that same post – i.e. by replying to it

* You can only bid for players on the spreadsheet, and their positions are based on the Handbook (if in there) or the most recent position they played. We used to encourage scouting, but there were too many issues with positions that we had to unfortunately scrap that.

* if the player you bid for receives a higher offer, you can either make a higher bid, bid for another player, or just not do anything (you are off the hook if someone outbids you). Remember though - only 1 successful bid per week.

* The highest bid for a player has to be the highest bid for 30 minutes. What this means is that if - for example - if there is an open bid for Tim Nutasch, and I bid for him for $101,000 at 1.55pm Friday, if someone then bids $110,000 at 2.20pm, I (or any other coach) has until 2.50pm to make a higher bid. No fastest finger in this comp, you can't just put a bid on at 5.29pm and 58 seconds to get someone, as we have 30 minutes from your bid to decide, so make sure you put the amount you think they are worth to you. If this is not clear, please talk to me

* A player that has been traded OUT of 2 teams becomes ineligible for trading for the remainder of the season (ie no player can play for a third team in one GC season). After they are dropped from a second team, they are ruled out of the GC season.

* The final trading week is after Round 25 each year. That's it, no leaving spaces for later, no dropping, nothing. That's it.

* You can bid for a player you have previously released, however your offer must be no less than the value you previously had that player for. This still only counts as 1 team for that player towards their 2 team maximum.

* (added 18/5/15) Any player who remains in the process of trading negotiations (as being offered for release to bring in another player) at the time of the deadline for naming that round's team - is not permitted to be named in that round's team. This also applies, for the inverse situation – i.e. Thursday night kick-offs. If you name a player in your team that week (say at 7pm Thursday) and then wish to bid on a player later that night, or place a counter bid before 2pm Friday, you may not, as part of that trade offer to release any players you have named to play that round.

Therefore it is up to the manager to decide if they drop out of a bidding war to allow their player to play that weekend.

Entry fee - $20 per team, however as of Season 2012 you can select up to 2 players from your previous years' squad to keep for this season as Loyalty Players, and this is included (as of 2013) in your $20 fee. No trading until you are financial

• Trading between rival coaches – allowed up until after Round 18. The players are swapped at the dollar value the original coach paid for them. One coach lists the trade in the forum with the second coach acknowledging the trade. (Perceived shenanigans between coaches will be dealt with accordingly by the committee)

* You can trade 1 player each week using the forum, by naming the player to drop and the player to sign with the amount you wish to sign them for.

• Once season starts, there are minimum bids for players :* less than 5 NRL games - $50,000 min. bid* 5 or more NRL games - $100,000 min. bid* rep player - $200,000 min. bid* goal kicker (K) - $250,000 min. bidDo your homework before making a bid, and you will be fine. If you bid $65,000 for a player who should have a $100K minimum bid, then the bid will just be declined, and you will have to wait. If you bid $65,000, and it is not enough, you will often hear from someone that that is the case, and you CAN REVISE YOUR BID ON THAT PLAYER (same as if you make a higher bid if you are outbid), but obviously within the timeframes of the trade window.

• A player has to be in your squad for 4 weeks before you can trade them.

* bids are placed on the Forum and are active for 48 hours from initial post. Please include the player's name in the post so all replies relating to the player are kept in one place

* The trading period begins midday Monday and closes (NEW TIME) 2pm Friday (so an offer for a player MUST begin by 2pm Wednesday) **

* If you wish to bid for a player that has already been bid for - please put your higher bid as a reply to that original forum entry, so it keeps the threads together.

* You can only bid for players on the spreadsheet, and their positions are based on the Handbook (if in there) or the most recent position they played. We used to encourage scouting, but there were too many issues with positions that we had to unfortunately scrap that.

* if the player you bid for receives a higher offer, you can either make a higher bid, bid for another player, or just not do anything (you are off the hook if someone outbids you). Remember though - only 1 successful bid per week.

** The highest bid for a player has to be the highest bid for 30 minutes. What this means is that if - for example - if there is a bit of a bidding war going on, and I bid for Tim Natusch for $101,000 at 1.55pm Friday, but someone bids $110,000 for him at 2.20pm, I (or any other coach) has until 2.50pm to make a higher bid. No fastest finger in this comp, you can't just put a bid on at 5.29pm and 58 seconds to get someone, as we have 30 minutes from your bid to decide, so make sure you put the amount you think they are worth to you. If this is not clear, please talk to me

* A player that has been traded OUT of 2 teams becomes ineligible for trading for the remainder of the season (ie no player can play for a third team in one GC season). After they are dropped from a second team, they are ruled out of the GC season.

* The final trading week is after Round 20 each year. That's it, no leaving spaces for later, no dropping, nothing. That's it.

** You can bid for a player you have previously released, however your offer must be no less than the value you previously had that player for. This still only counts as 1 team for that player towards their 2 team maximum.

Entry fee - $20 per team, however as of Season 2012 you can select up to 2 players from your previous years' squad to keep for this season as Loyalty Players, and this is included (as of 2013) in your $20 fee. No trading until you are financial

• Trading between rival coaches – allowed up until after Round 14. The players are swapped at the dollar value the original coach paid for them. One coach lists the trade in the forum with the second coach acknowledging the trade.

Last edited by Admin on Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:58 am; edited 2 times in total